


Rooftop Confessions

by wyntirrose



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Gen, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 04:09:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2053011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyntirrose/pseuds/wyntirrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The mission is over and Smokey and Jazz have a quiet talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rooftop Confessions

Smokescreen sat on the roof of the safe house staring out over the city. He probably should have been inside, but there were things in there that he was avoiding. If he was being honest with himself, he was avoiding the people who were inside. He sighed and took a long drag on the syk stik, blowing the green smoke to up into the air. He knew that he shouldn't be smoking the things,but one wouldn't hurt so long as no one told Ratchet. This one was a mild dose, only giving him a slight rev, but it was enough to keep him distracted.

It worked well enough that he never heard Jazz come up behind him.

"Ya know those are illegal, right?" Jazz said as he came to sit beside the Praxian, dropping down to hang his legs over the side of the building.

"Forbidden, not illegal. They never actually bothered to make them illegal," Smokescreen replied negligently as he handed over the stik to his commander.

Jazz was silent as he took a short drag before destroying the stimulant.

Smokescreen glared at Jazz but fought back the urge to growl. He had more stashed away if he really needed one.

"You didn't need to trash it, you know."

"Yeah, I did, mech. I need ya sharp tomorrow," Jazz replied, "and you're clearly in the mood to get lost tonight."

"I'll be fine by the time we need to leave and write up a report. You go back on down with 'Raj. We both know you two aren't done with each other yet," Smokescreen said with a smile, but it never reached his optics and there was a tension there, hidden behind the rogueish grin.

"I know that ya think that's a cue to leave, but that ain't gonna happen, friend," Jazz said, pulling out a small box of rust sticks. He opened the container and offered the candies to his subordinate.

Smokescreen looked at them for a moment before taking one of the sticks and sucking lightly on one end. The taste was sweet and spicy with a slight tingle of the lead sulphide inclusions.

"So you wanna tell me why you're out here instead of inside?" Jazz asked, taking a rust stick for himself and putting away the box.

"Keeping watch. And I figured that neither of you would appreciate the smoke in the apartment," Smokescreen replied with a shrug.

"Right, and?" Jazz prompted around the candy.

"And nothing. Look, don't worry about it. I've got the watch, you go back in with Raj, okay?"

"Not buying, Smokes," Jazz said. "Now tell me what's eating atcha so I don't have to keep on prodding. You're the psy ops agent, not me."

Smokescreen was silent for a long time and Jazz gave him the time he needed. He was nothing if not patient, and one thing that Smokey had taught him was that everyone talks if you give them enough silence to fill.

"Fine, look, I just don't want to deal with Mirage tonight, okay?" Smokescreen answered when he finished the last of the rust stick. "I agreed to this mission and we're done. There's no need for me to hang out with someone who clearly hates me."

"He doesn't hate ya," Jazz replied, and then chuckled ruefully when Smokescreen arched his chevron slightly in disbelief. "Okay, so he doesn't care for you. But hate's a strong word."

"No, I think that hate is a fine word. He thinks that I'm a Decepticon turncoat and that I'll kill you all in your recharge the second I get the chance," Smokescreen said, staring off at the city around them. "I'm just not in the mind to be in that kind of a toxic environment right now. You two have your way to destress after a mission and I have mine. Just leave me to it, okay?" The words made sense but there was a hint of bitterness under them that Jazz couldn't ignore.

"Is this jealousy?" Jazz asked, radiating concern as he moved a little closer to his friend. "Is that what's going on here?"

Smokescreen pulled away and looked at Jazz incredulously. "What? No! Primus no! It has nothing to do with jealousy. Trust me, I have no interest in Mirage. Well, I _no longer_ have any interest in Mirage. I've gotten to know him. And you? You know I love you but I'm not in the right headspace to deal with your particular form of dominance."

Jazz just barely managed to suppress a snicker at that. "Raj grows on you if you let him and I don't _have_ to tie you up, you know." 

Smokescreen snorted softly. "Yeah, he grows on you like scraplets."

"You're not explaining what's eating at you. What'd you once call it? Diverting? You're trying to divert me, mech but we both know I'm not going anywhere until you talk to me."

Smokescreen sighed and pulled out another syk stik and activated it, glaring at Jazz as if daring him to take this one away. He needed fortification and primus damn it, he was going to get it. After a long drag he was finally ready to divulge what he was hiding from his commander.

"Diversion, not diverting. And I'm not, and it's not jealousy. I know that if I really wanted anything you'd be more than willing to help me destress and that you'd agree to anything I asked, no matter how strange or boring the request might be," he said. "It's not like we haven't enjoyed each other in the past. However I also know that ..." Smokescreen trailed off and looked back out over the city, taking another drag on the styk. "Look, I just know that things have changed and that won't destress me any more. It'll just add more angst."

"Why?" Jazz asked, genuinely curious. "It ain't like either of us is exclusive or even the type to look for it."

Smokescreen shrugged. "Maybe I want more. Maybe I want something more stable. ... and maybe I see the way that Raj looks at you. I don't want to come between you two. I've seen that look before and I know possessiveness when I see it."

Jazz nodded and reached out to take the stik from Smokescreen, taking a quick drag before handing it back.

"It's not possessiveness you know. Not in the way that you think it is," he said.

"Then what is it like?" Smokescreen asked.

Jazz shrugged. "It's a protective thing. He's lost a lot in his life and he's gonna do everything he can to make sure he don't lose nothing else."

"And I'm a threat," Smokescreen said simply. "See? He hates me."

Jazz actually laughed at that and scooted a bit closer to the Praxian, wrapping one arm loosely around the other mech's shoulders.

"He doesn't hate you. We've been over this, Smokey," he said. "Now what can I do to convince you that no one hates you?"

Smokescreen, always a tactile being, leaned into the touch, the syk emphasizing that aspect of his personality.

"Logically I know that," he said. "And I also know that I'll be over this tomorrow when I'm back at base and where I belong."

He took one last drag on the stik and stubbed it out before pocketing the remains.

"You belong here with us," Jazz said gently, squeezing Smokescreen close.

"Not what you said when you transferred me, mech," the Praxian reminded Jazz gently.

"Just because you're better off there doesn't mean that you don't belong here too." 

Silence descended over the rooftop for a long time, as Smokescreen leaned into Jazz's side. The Praxian's doors moved in slight, uncharacteristic shifts and bobs, movements Jazz recognized from time spent with other doorwinged mechs. Smokescreen was thinking things through. Having an internal debate with himself over something. Finally after several minutes, Smokescreen stood, stretched slightly, and held out a hand for Jazz.

"Maybe it is about time I came back inside for a bit," he said. "You think that you can get Mirage to come on out and keep watch?"

"He doesn't hate you, you know," Jazz replied with a small laugh.

"Yeah, but I'd feel more comfortable if he wasn't anywhere near me with his rifle tonight."


End file.
